PERSONAL PARTICULARS ON BOOK-PLATES
HOW much more communicative, in the matter of personal particulars, are
some people, upon their book-plate, than others! What a contrast, for
instance, between the inscription on Walpole's book-plate--'Mr. Horatio
Walpole'--and that on one of Pepys's, on which he styles himself
'Esquire,' and states that he is of Brampton in Huntingtonshire,
'Secretary of the Admiralty of his Mat^{y} King Charles the Second,' and
'Descended of y^{e} ancient family of Pepys of Cottenham in
Cambridgeshire.'
Of course Sam Pepys was a vain man--that we all know; but the difference
between the two inscriptions has more to do with the fashion of the time
than with the characteristics of the two men. In enlarging on his
pedigree, social position, and secretaryship to the Admiralty, Pepys was
only following the custom of his day. There are many examples of similar
inscriptions on book-plates contemporary with Pepys's:--'Charles
Pitfeild of Hoxton, in the Parish of St. Leonards, Shoreditch, in
Middlesex, Esq^{r.,} descended of the ancient family of the Pitfeilds of
Symsbury in Dorsetshire, and is now married to Winifred, one of the
daughters and Coeheyrs of John Adderley, of Coton in Stafordshire,
Esq^{r.}' And again:--'S^{r}. Henry Hunloke of Wingerworth, in
Derbyshire, Bart. In y^{e} escocheon of pretence is y^{e} Armes of
Katherine his Lady, who was sole daughter and heyre of Francis Tyrwhit
of Kettleby, in Lincolnshire, Esq^{e}, y^{e} last of y^{e} Eldest branch
of y^{t} great and ancient family.' Equally proud of his ancestry is
'Thomas Windham of Sale in Devonshire, Esq^{r.,} one of the Grooms of
his Majesties Bed-chamber, third son of S^{r} Edmund Windham of
Cathanger in Somersetshire, Kt., Marshall of his Majesties most
Hon^{ble} household,' who concludes the inscription on his book-plate by
telling us that he was 'lineally descended from the antient family of
the Windhams of Crown-Thorpe, in the County of Norfolk.'
But this habit of expressing pride in ancestry, though it became less
frequent, certainly survived Pepys's time. Mr. J. Paul Rylands, F.S.A.,
has a copy of the _Eikon Basilike_, printed in 1649, on the title-page
of which is written, 'Dan. Mercator.' Within the book is an armorial
book-plate engraved in the Jacobean style, and, since it belonged to a
man born in 1640, one of the early examples of that style. The owner was
the eminent mathematician, Nicholas Mercator, who was born at Holstein,
and afterwards settled in England, where his mathematical ability was
recognised by his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society. Nicholas
was proud of his ancestors' efforts in the cause of Protestantism, and
also wished his English friends to be aware of them; he therefore
inscribes his book-plate, 'Nicholas Mercator, a Descendant of the
Kauffmans of Prague, in Bohemia, Coadjutors with Luther in the
Reformation.'
On the Continent, lengthy eulogies of ancestors are common, and they
commence at an early date. Here is one, which is also a sigh for the
purity of nobility in ages past. It is uttered, in 1565, by John Giles
Knöringen, who writes, below his shield of arms, given in colour:--
'These are the famed insignia of my sires,
Which in their proper colour you may see;
Not bribes, as is the fashion in these days,
But virtue, raised them to nobility.'
It is, however, most frequently in an enumeration of his offices or
degrees that the owner of a book-plate allows himself to get wordy. Let
us take, for instance, the already mentioned book-plate of Sir Edward
Dering (see pp. 31, 32), which bears date 1630, and displays a shield of
twenty coats of arms; it has a proportionately impressive description of
Sir Edward's many offices--Lieutenant of Dover Castle, Vice-Chancellor,
and Vice-Admiral of the Cinque Ports, etc. Sir Robert Southwell, Knight,
tells us that he is 'one of the Clerkes attending His Majesty King
Charles the Second in his most Honourable Privy Councell, etc.'
William Wharton, who was killed in a duel, in 1689, calls himself
'fourth son to the Right Honourable Philip Lord Wharton of Wharton, in
Westmoreland, by Ann, Daughter to William Carr, of Fernihast, in
Scotland, Esq^{r.,} one of the Groome (_sic_) of the Bedchamber to King
James'; whilst Randolph Egerton, in the inscription on his book-plate,
recalls the time when the unhappy Duke of Monmouth was yet a trusted
officer in the royal army: 'Randolph Egerton of Betley, in Staford
Shire, Esquire, Lieutenant of his Majestyes own Troop of Guard, under
the comand of his Grace James Duke of Monmouth, etc.'
The book-plates of Thomas, Earl of Wentworth, contain a curiously
lengthy enumeration of the offices enjoyed by that distinguished soldier
and diplomatist, who, at a critical time, steered his country through a
great many difficulties. The first is dated in 1698, and on it the owner
describes himself as 'The Right Honourable Thomas Wentworth, Baron of
Raby, and Colonell of his Maiesties owne Royall Reg^{mt} of Dragoons,
1698.' In 1703 Wentworth was sent as envoy to Berlin, and two years
later was advanced to the post of ambassador. On this appointment he had
a second book-plate engraved, bearing the following inscription:--'His
Excellency The R^{t} Hon^{ble} Tho. Wentworth, Lord Raby, Peer of
England, Coll^{o} of her Ma^{tys} Royal Reg^{t} of Dragoons, Lieu^{t}
General of all her Ma^{tys} Forces & her Ma^{tys} Embassador Extra^{ry}
to y^{e} King of Prussia, 1705;'--size 4 × 3. On the face of it, this is
foreign work, and the expression 'Peer of England' could hardly have
been put on it by an English engraver.
Wentworth's later diplomatic post has been made famous by Swift's
allusion to it, in reference to his being associated with Mat Prior.
'Wentworth,' says the Dean, 'is as proud as hell, and how he will bear
one of Prior's mean birth on an equal character with him I know not.'
Proud as hell, was he? Well, he certainly was proud of his advance in
title and his many high offices, all of which he sets out in his third
and last book-plate, also, I think, foreign work, dated in 1712. Here is
the inscription: 'His Excellency the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of
Strafford, Viscount Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse, and of
Stainborough, Baron of Raby, Newmarch, and Oversley, Her Majesty's
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the States General of
y^{e} United Provinces, and also at the Congress of Utrecht; Colonel of
Her Majesty's own Royal Regiment of Dragoons, Lieutenant-General of all
Her Forces; First Lord of the Admiraltry (_sic_) of Great Britain and
Ireland; one of the Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy
Council; and Knight of the Most Noble Order of y^{e} Garter.' On the
accession of George I., an attempt was made to impeach this busy Lord,
but it failed, and he retired into private life for the rest of his
days. His memoirs, published a few years back by Mr. Cartwright, F.S.A.,
give an excellent picture of life at the time he lived.
Some book-plate owners, not boastful of their titles, let us into their
confidences as to their place of birth, age, and the like. The German
book-plate, dated in 1618, of John Vennitzer, a knife-smith or cutler by
trade, tells us that he was born at Nuremberg, at 22 minutes past 5 in
the afternoon on the 14th day of May, 1565. Vennitzer made money by his
trade, and founded the Library of St. Lawrence in his native city;
perhaps the date on the book-plate is that of the foundation of the
library. No doubt, as Lord De Tabley remarks, the cutler conscientiously
believed that the condition of his whole life depended on the particular
moment at which he entered the world; for he was probably well versed in
the mysteries of horoscopy.
'John Collet' makes us really quite familiar with all his relations, and
with his own religious feelings. His book-plate--it is only a printed
label--reads: 'Johannes Collet filius Thomæ Collet. Pater Thomæ,
Gulielmi, ac Johannis, omnium superstes. Natus quarto junii, 1633.
Denasciturus quando Deo visum fuerit; interim hujus proprietarius John
(_sic_) Collet.'
Even more obliging is 'Thomas Tertius Okey, medicinæ Professor, 1697.'
He was, he tells us, 'great grandson to William Okey (usually cal'd
Okely) of Church Norton, betwixt Gloucester and Tewxsbury, gentelman;
grandson to Thomas Primus Okey of Church Norton, the Devizes and
Taunton, Professor of Theology; eldest son to Thomas Secundus Okey, of
the Devizes and London, Professor of Physick, and father to Thomas
Quartus Okey, of London, gentelman. The above mentioned Thomas Tertius
Okey, Professor of Physick, now liveth in London near the Bodys of his
deceased relations.' Before such details as these, even John Collet
seems reticent.
Sir Philip Sydenham--whose peculiarities in the matter of book-plates
are elsewhere commented upon--in one of his first examples, dated in
1699, tells us his age: 'Sir Philip Sydenham, Bart., of Brympton in
Somerset, and M.A. of the University of Cambridge, Æta. Suæ 23.' Richard
Towneley in 1702 does the same. The inscription on his book-plate reads,
as we see by the frontispiece:
'Ex libris Bibliothecæ Domesticæ Richardi Towneley de
Towneley In Agro Lancastrensi Armigeri Anno {Ætatis: 73
{Domini: 1702.'
One cannot help wondering why Mr. Towneley--the owner, and in a great
part the collector, of the vast library with which the family name is
connected--should have waited till he was seventy-three years of age to
have a book-plate engraved. Some of the volumes in that library had a
curious stamp in silver of the Towneley arms, with the date 1603 on
their bindings, but there does not seem to have been an earlier
book-plate. Richard Towneley died at York in 1707. Besides being an
astronomer and a mathematician, he was a keen antiquary; and Thoresby,
the historian of Leeds, tells us of the pride with which he showed him a
wondrous and just completed pedigree of the Towneley family, on the
occasion of their meeting during the year in which the book-plate was
engraved.
'John Fenwick of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Attorney at Law,' leaves us in
ignorance as to his age at the time his book-plate was engraved, because
he does not date it; but he states that he was 'born at Hexham, 14th
April 1787,' and 'married at Alnwick, 9th June 1814.'
One lady--and only one--lets us into what, with those of her sex, is
usually a secret. Isabel de Menezes inscribes her book-plate by
Bartolozzi (see p. 94), 'Ætatis 71 anno 1798.'
I have given, in this chapter, no foreign examples of book-plates on
which minute personal particulars appear; but some of the examples of
which I have spoken elsewhere--notably the Flemish book-plate of Count
vander Noot--will show that they exist.